Gray Par-ee

It rains a lot in Paris in November. Not the gentle spring rains that make this city seem so romantic. No, for this foul weather, the French don’t mince their metaphors: Il pleut des hallebardes/cordes — “it’s raining spears/ropes” (we would say, “It’s raining cats and dogs”). Pleuvoir comme vache qui pisse — “to rain the way a cow pisses” (torrential rain). Un temps de chien — “dog weather” (from the days when urban dogs were considered filthy and vile: a rotten, rainy, gray, cold and cloudy day). It’s dog weather today. Enough to keep most sensible people indoors. But not me. I need my walkies. So, out I go, along one of my favorite routes, the Coulee verte, or “Planted walkway.” It’s on an old tram line that used to connect the Bastille with Vincennes on the periphery of the city. The raised viaduct runs through residential streets and parks and is planted with shrubs and flower gardens all along the route. In fact, it was the first such train-tracks-to-park-path conversion in the world. <a href="https://medium.com/globetrotters/gray-par-ee-f260840056a4">Click Here</a>